Scheduled Maintenance
Bb was taken down for maintenance at 5pm on Friday, September, 9, 2005. The system was back up by 9pm.
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Bb was taken down for maintenance at 5pm on Friday, September, 9, 2005. The system was back up by 9pm.
To: Faculty Blackboard Users
Subject: Blackboard - 2005 Fall - Reminders, Updates, and New Features
If you have any questions concerning any of the items in this email, please submit an on-line help desk ticket at http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/ or email help@vcu.edu.
Items covered in this email:
· Blackboard Maintenance Schedule
· Making your 2005 Fall courses available
· Combining course rosters for Multiple sections or Cross-listed courses
· We will set 2005 Summer courses to Unavailable status the week of September 19
· Scanning of Grades – Upload into Bb
· Content Management System (CMS) Implemented August 1, 2005
· Glossary Feature added to Bb Course
· Email Changes for Students
· Training Opportunities and Help Links
Blackboard Maintenance Schedule
This is a reminder that the Bb system will be taken down the second and fourth Friday of each month from 4pm to midnight to perform maintenance. Go to this link to see actual dates: http://www.vcu.edu/idc/blackboard/schedule/index.htm .
Making your 2005 Fall course(s) available
Remember to make your Fall 2005 course(s) "Available" in the Blackboard system when you are ready for your students to see the course. All courses are set to "Unavailable" when you first create them. Courses that are "Unavailable" are not visible to the students in the course. To set your course to be available to students, please do the following:
1. From the Control Panel of the Course, choose Settings.
2. From Settings, choose Course Availability.
3. Set the course to be Available and Submit.
Combining course rosters for Multiple sections or Cross-listed courses
If you are teaching multiple sections of a course or a course is cross-listed and you would like to have the enrollments for all of the sections combined into a single Blackboard course, please submit an on-line help desk ticket at http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/ or email help@vcu.edu. In the email, please tell us the name of the course that you have created in Blackboard and the specific course sections that you would like to have directed into that course. For example:
"Please combine sections 001, 002, 003 and 004 of PSYC-101 into the Blackboard course PSYC-101-001-2005Spring."
Or
“Please Combine WMNS-101-001-2005Fall into the Blackboard course PSYC-101-001-2005Spring”
It usually takes a business day for the roster to update after you have made your request for combined sections or cross-listing, and after you have created the course in Blackboard.
We will set 2005 Summer courses to Unavailable status the week of September 19
Please be aware that we will set all Summer 2005 courses to an "Unavailable" status the week of September 19, 2005. This is done so that the Summer 2005 courses will no longer be available to students. The courses will continue to be accessible to instructors. Please note this process sets the course to unavailable and you as the instructor on the course can make it available again if needed. If you wish to ensure that your Summer 2005 course remains available to students, you may send an email to pasmith2@vcu.edu prior to September 19 with the courseid (e.g. PSYC-101-001-2005Fall). This will ensure that the availability of your course is not modified.
Scanning of Grades – Upload into Bb
If you use the test scanning services at the Monroe Park or MCV Help Desk you can now request the results be sent to you in a file that you can upload into the Bb Gradebook. When you turn in the scan sheets request the grades be sent to you in a Blackboard file. After you receive the file, follow these steps to upload into the Bb Gradebook:
1. Go to Bb Course
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Click on Gradebook
4. Click on Upload Grades
5. Click on Browse and find the file that was sent to you
6. Follow instructions to complete the process. Note: Check the gradebook to see if all the grades loaded. If the student did not code their form correctly then their item may not match up with Bb and will not load. These you will have to enter manually.
Content Management System (CMS) Implemented August 1, 2005
The Bb CMS went ‘live’ on August 1, 2005 for all faculty, staff, and students. There is a new tab at the top of the page after you log in Bb labeled “Content System.” If you are familiar with VCUfiles it works very similar to it.
Some basic instructions to get you started:
To add a file to CMS do the following:
1. Click on the Content System Tab
2. Click on the +Item link (this will allow you to add an item to CMS)
3. Follow the instructions to Browse and find document to add
4. Click Submit
To link to a file in CMS from a Bb Course do the following:
1. Click on a Course
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Click on a Content Area (For example, Course Documents)
4. To the far right of the display there is a drop down box next to “Select.” Click on the drop down box and there will be an item in it called “Content System Content.” Select Content System Content and Click on GO.
5. On the screen there will be a Browser button. Click on it and browse your CMS area. Select the item to link to in CMS. You made link to the same document in CMS from multiple courses.
These are very basic instructions, to learn more about CMS explore the Training Opportunities below.
Glossary Feature added to Bb Course
You now have the ability to create a Glossary for a course. To experiment with the Glossary feature:
1. Log in to Bb
2. Click on a Course
3. Click on Control Panel
4. Click on Glossary Manager (in Course Tools box)
Email Changes for Students
This is not a change in Blackboard but a change in the email system for Students. All students were moved from mail1 or mail2 to Lotus Notes this summer. Students may complain they are not receiving their email from the Blackboard system. When the student is accessing their VCU email they should click on the link labeled “Student Email” and NOT “Webmail” from this webpage (http://www.vcu.edu/it/email.html). They may be able to send email through mail1 and mail2 but they will only receive email through the VCU Mail Anywhere interface.
Training Opportunities and Help Links
If you would like a Blackboard workshop set up for a group of faculty in your department or school please send an email to cte@vcu.edu or contact Sheila Chandler at sdchandl@vcu.edu .
Center for Teaching Excellence
Learn about sound pedagogical methods and other resources
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/
Faculty Instructional Technology Services (FITS) training
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/it/
Blackboard FAQ
http://www.at.vcu.edu/faq/bb/index.html
Technology Help Desk page
http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/index.html
Behind the Blackboard
http://behind.blackboard.com/b3/index.aspx?from=www
(NOTE: this is not a VCU site. It requires you to set up a free account with Blackboard.com in order to access the resources. Click on create, if you do not have an account.)
To: Faculty Blackboard Users
Subject: Blackboard - 2005 Fall - Reminders, Updates, and New Features
If you have any questions concerning any of the items in this email, please submit an on-line help desk ticket at http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/ or email help@vcu.edu.
Items covered in this email:
· Blackboard Maintenance Schedule
· Making your 2005 Fall courses available
· Combining course rosters for Multiple sections or Cross-listed courses
· We will set 2005 Summer courses to Unavailable status the week of September 19
· Scanning of Grades – Upload into Bb
· Content Management System (CMS) Implemented August 1, 2005
· Glossary Feature added to Bb Course
· Email Changes for Students
· Training Opportunities and Help Links
Blackboard Maintenance Schedule
This is a reminder that the Bb system will be taken down the second and fourth Friday of each month from 4pm to midnight to perform maintenance. Go to this link to see actual dates: http://www.vcu.edu/idc/blackboard/schedule/index.htm .
Making your 2005 Fall course(s) available
Remember to make your Fall 2005 course(s) "Available" in the Blackboard system when you are ready for your students to see the course. All courses are set to "Unavailable" when you first create them. Courses that are "Unavailable" are not visible to the students in the course. To set your course to be available to students, please do the following:
1. From the Control Panel of the Course, choose Settings.
2. From Settings, choose Course Availability.
3. Set the course to be Available and Submit.
Combining course rosters for Multiple sections or Cross-listed courses
If you are teaching multiple sections of a course or a course is cross-listed and you would like to have the enrollments for all of the sections combined into a single Blackboard course, please submit an on-line help desk ticket at http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/ or email help@vcu.edu. In the email, please tell us the name of the course that you have created in Blackboard and the specific course sections that you would like to have directed into that course. For example:
"Please combine sections 001, 002, 003 and 004 of PSYC-101 into the Blackboard course PSYC-101-001-2005Spring."
Or
“Please Combine WMNS-101-001-2005Fall into the Blackboard course PSYC-101-001-2005Spring”
It usually takes a business day for the roster to update after you have made your request for combined sections or cross-listing, and after you have created the course in Blackboard.
We will set 2005 Summer courses to Unavailable status the week of September 19
Please be aware that we will set all Summer 2005 courses to an "Unavailable" status the week of September 19, 2005. This is done so that the Summer 2005 courses will no longer be available to students. The courses will continue to be accessible to instructors. Please note this process sets the course to unavailable and you as the instructor on the course can make it available again if needed. If you wish to ensure that your Summer 2005 course remains available to students, you may send an email to pasmith2@vcu.edu prior to September 19 with the courseid (e.g. PSYC-101-001-2005Fall). This will ensure that the availability of your course is not modified.
Scanning of Grades – Upload into Bb
If you use the test scanning services at the Monroe Park or MCV Help Desk you can now request the results be sent to you in a file that you can upload into the Bb Gradebook. When you turn in the scan sheets request the grades be sent to you in a Blackboard file. After you receive the file, follow these steps to upload into the Bb Gradebook:
1. Go to Bb Course
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Click on Gradebook
4. Click on Upload Grades
5. Click on Browse and find the file that was sent to you
6. Follow instructions to complete the process. Note: Check the gradebook to see if all the grades loaded. If the student did not code their form correctly then their item may not match up with Bb and will not load. These you will have to enter manually.
Content Management System (CMS) Implemented August 1, 2005
The Bb CMS went ‘live’ on August 1, 2005 for all faculty, staff, and students. There is a new tab at the top of the page after you log in Bb labeled “Content System.” If you are familiar with VCUfiles it works very similar to it.
Some basic instructions to get you started:
To add a file to CMS do the following:
1. Click on the Content System Tab
2. Click on the +Item link (this will allow you to add an item to CMS)
3. Follow the instructions to Browse and find document to add
4. Click Submit
To link to a file in CMS from a Bb Course do the following:
1. Click on a Course
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Click on a Content Area (For example, Course Documents)
4. To the far right of the display there is a drop down box next to “Select.” Click on the drop down box and there will be an item in it called “Content System Content.” Select Content System Content and Click on GO.
5. On the screen there will be a Browser button. Click on it and browse your CMS area. Select the item to link to in CMS. You made link to the same document in CMS from multiple courses.
These are very basic instructions, to learn more about CMS explore the Training Opportunities below.
Glossary Feature added to Bb Course
You now have the ability to create a Glossary for a course. To experiment with the Glossary feature:
1. Log in to Bb
2. Click on a Course
3. Click on Control Panel
4. Click on Glossary Manager (in Course Tools box)
Email Changes for Students
This is not a change in Blackboard but a change in the email system for Students. All students were moved from mail1 or mail2 to Lotus Notes this summer. Students may complain they are not receiving their email from the Blackboard system. When the student is accessing their VCU email they should click on the link labeled “Student Email” and NOT “Webmail” from this webpage (http://www.vcu.edu/it/email.html). They may be able to send email through mail1 and mail2 but they will only receive email through the VCU Mail Anywhere interface.
Training Opportunities and Help Links
If you would like a Blackboard workshop set up for a group of faculty in your department or school please send an email to cte@vcu.edu or contact Sheila Chandler at sdchandl@vcu.edu .
Center for Teaching Excellence
Learn about sound pedagogical methods and other resources
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/
Faculty Instructional Technology Services (FITS) training
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/it/
Blackboard FAQ
http://www.at.vcu.edu/faq/bb/index.html
Technology Help Desk page
http://www.at.vcu.edu/helpdesk/index.html
Behind the Blackboard
http://behind.blackboard.com/b3/index.aspx?from=www
(NOTE: this is not a VCU site. It requires you to set up a free account with Blackboard.com in order to access the resources. Click on create, if you do not have an account.)
There was power outage at the VCU University Computer Center on Thursday evening (9/1/05). This caused the users not to be able to access Blackboard and other systems.